I’d like to begin by sharing about a family - a family from another congregation - that I had the privilege of knowing. The wife - we’ll call her Jane - not her real name. Jane was in her late 40’s. She lived in the Washington D.C. area and had the kind of position that lent itself to power - to influence. She was on her way up.

Jane’s husband was a highly placed executive in a large multi-billion dollar - multinational corporation. His job took him around the globe. He was on his way up. Together they had a daughter who was just becoming a teenager. In fact, it wasn’t that this couple was just on the way up. They had arrived and we’re still going up.

Then one spring the doctors discovered a tumor in Jane’s brain. A tumor they said was inoperable.

When I first starting visiting Jane, she had moved back to her parents home in the Bay Area. Her husband had transferred to the San Francisco office of the company. And as I visited Jane over a period of months I watched as she went from a limited ability to sit and talk and move about to becoming bedridden disorientated and finally comatose.

One day I received a phone call from the family. They were at the hospital. “Could you come. Our daughter has died.”

I can’t even begin to imagine what the parents went through. Over a period of months I had listened to them - prayed with them - tried to be there for them. But, I have no idea what it is like to loose a 49 year old daughter to cancer.

I sat with them in the hospital room. Jane’s body on the bed. The husband. The parents. Her brother and his family. The daughter. I tried to listen and be supportive. Among my thoughts and feelings I kept thinking to myself - here is this family who had everything. By the standards of our world they were a success. They had money, and power. And yet, they could do nothing to save Jane. Nothing can bring her back to life.

Jesus once told a story about a farmer who had bumper crop. He harvested so much he had no idea what to do with it all. He must have anticipated getting top dollar for the crop. Because he started thinking about how to expand his business - tearing down his barns and building larger ones - places to store his grain and things.

The farmer said to himself, “Self, you’ve done well! You’ve got it made and now you can retire. Take it easy and have the time of your life!”

Just then God showed up and said, “Fool! Tonight you die. And your barnful of goods - who gets it?”

Jesus said, “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16-21, The Message, NASB)

On another occasion Jesus asked the question, “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36,37)

We need to honest about our lives. When we’re kids we think that this goes on forever. But at funerals we come face-to-face with our own mortality. None of knows when it will end. As time goes on we struggle with issues of purpose and value and meaning for our lives. We ask the question, “What comes next?” Nothing this world offers can fully answer those questions.

Let me put this another way - more positive. In 1 John 5:11-13, the Apostle John writes, “God us given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son - Jesus. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

Notice three things about these verse:

First - notice that the life we long for is found only in Jesus Christ.

This is what Jesus says in John 10:10: "I came that they may have life, and have it to the full." God's life is the kind of life that we can't wait to get out of bed to experience - full of joy - delight - vitality - purpose - meaning - that satisfies the deepest longings of our hearts. Its the kind of life that excites us to come to experience together - to worship together - to serve together - that makes us miss each other when we're away from each other.

Second notice that we have a choice. God offers life in Jesus to each one of us. Some people have the life - because they’ve put their trust in Jesus as their Savior. Some do not have the life. But some have not yet come to accept their need for Jesus as their Savior and put their trust in Him. We need to make a choice of whether to accept God’s offer of life in Jesus.

And third - notice that if we have life in Jesus there’s no question about where we will spend eternity. That issue is settled. For the Christian the end - death - is not a hopeless uncertainty. In Jesus we will spend eternity with God.

This morning - in contrast to life without purpose and death - this morning we’re going to celebrate life and the settling of the question of our eternal destiny. We’re going to celebrate life in Jesus with baptism.

In the last days of Jesus' ministry on earth, He gave His disciples a commandment - He said, "Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you..." (Matthew 28:19,20a)

Jesus said, "Go make disciples." Which means telling others about the Gospel of Jesus Christ - the forgiving of our sins - the salvation and life He offers us - inviting others to join us in following Jesus Christ.

We’re not born disciples. To be a disciple means that we acknowledge that our sin separates us from God. We make a decision to trust Jesus as our Savior. We choose to turn from following our path in life - choosing to follow God's path for our life.

Baptism - Jesus said - is the next step. Become a disciple. Then be baptized. Baptism symbolically shows the relationship we have with Jesus Christ. This is why we call it "believer's baptism." Because a believer in Jesus Christ - trusting Him as their Savior - in obedience to the Jesus' command - testifies of that relationship through baptism. Baptism identifies us with Jesus - His death and resurrection.

In Acts 8, we read that Philip was told by an angel to go to the desert road leading south out of Jerusalem. On that road he met an Ethiopian - the Queen's treasurer - a very important man - an Ethiopian who had come to Jerusalem to worship and now was on his way home.

As he was traveling this Ethiopian was reading from the prophet Isaiah - a passage which describes the death of Jesus. Philip asked him, "Do you understand what you're reading?" The Ethiopian answers that he needs someone to explain who Isaiah was writing about. So Philip explains about Jesus and the Gospel.

This Ethiopian was religious. He worshipped God. He read and studied the Scriptures. But he was still following his own path in life. He was a sinner under the judgment of God for his sins. He needed the Savior.

Many people today are like that Ethiopian. Religious - but not knowing Jesus as their Savior. Important people - up and coming - wealthy by the standards of the world. But on that day - on this desert road - leading out of Jerusalem - this Ethiopian made a decision to trust Jesus as his Savior.

As they traveled on the road together - Philip and the Ethiopian passed some water. The Ethiopian said to Philip, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?" He orders the chariot to stop. They both go into the water and Philip baptizes the Ethiopian. (Acts 8:26ff)

The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 6: "....all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death. Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." (Romans 6:3,4)

When those who are going to be baptized are placed under the water - symbolically they will be identifying with the death of Jesus Christ. Just as Jesus took all of our sins on the cross - died for them and was buried - they’ve died. They’ve turned from following their own path in life. Their old life - sinful and separated from God - is dead and buried with Jesus.

Then trusting Jesus - seeking to be His obedient disciples - they’re brought out of the water - out from the grave - into new life. Just as Jesus was raised from death.

This is what we’re going to be sharing - celebrating - together. Not a religious thing for people who go to church. But a testimony. A testimony of those who have given their lives to Jesus. That they have chosen to become disciples of Jesus Christ. That they now live with the certainty of the life which is only found in Jesus Christ.

Which brings all of us to a question. We need to be honest about our lives - honest before God. This morning what life do you live? Life with uncertainty or life in Jesus?

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